Failure to prosecute police officers accused of human rights abuses
and “serious failings in the justice system entrenched impunity” in the
Maldives during the past year, Amnesty International has said in its
annual report.

“These [failings] included the absence of codified
laws capable of providing justice equally to all and the appointment of
judges who lacked formal training in law without serious scrutiny of
their legal qualifications,” the international human rights organisation
stated.

“Throughout the year, authorities were accused of
political bias for fast-tracking the prosecution of opposition
supporters accused of criminal behaviour during rallies while failing to
prosecute police and others suspected of committing human rights abuses
during the same protests.”

The 2013 Amnesty annual report
on the state of the world’s human rights observed that former President
Mohamed Nasheed’s resignation on February 7, 2012 was “followed by
months of protest and political repression.”

Nasheed
resigned in the wake of a violent mutiny by Special Operations (SO)
police officers, who assaulted government supporters, ransacked the
ruling party’s Haruge (meeting hall), staged a protest at the
Republic Square, vandalised the police headquarters, clashed with the
military and stormed the state broadcaster.

Since
the transfer of presidential power, the security services have used
excessive force “to suppress demonstrations that were largely peaceful,”
the report noted.

“Supporters
of the former President’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) were
targeted for attack in February. Detainees were subjected to torture and
other ill-treatment,” the report continued.

“Targeted violence”
against MDP members plunged the nation into “a human rights crisis” in
February 2012, the Amnesty report contended.

“Throughout the year,
security forces frequently attacked peaceful demonstrators, including
MPs, journalists and bystanders, in the capital Malé or in Addu, both
MDP strongholds. Officers clubbed them, kicked them and pepper-sprayed
them directly in the eyes. Around the time of Mohamed Nasheed’s
resignation, from 7 to 9 February, police targeted senior MDP members
for attack and tracked down and assaulted injured protesters in
hospitals,” read the report.

Amnesty also reported torture and
ill-treatment in police custody, including “beatings, pepper-spraying
the eyes and mouth, denial of drinking water and, in Addu, incarceration
in dog cages.”

The report noted that a Commonwealth-backed
Commission of National Inquiry (CoNI) established by President Dr
Mohamed Waheed – which found that Nasheed resigned voluntarily – had
taken note of “allegations of police brutality and acts of intimidation”
and called for “investigations to proceed and to be brought to public
knowledge with perpetrators held to account.”

Criminal proceedings
have however yet to begin against a single police officer accused of
human rights abuses in the aftermath of February 7.

Impunity

In August 2012, the Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) concluded that the police crackdown
on a MDP march across Male’ on February 8, 2012 that left dozens of
demonstrators injured was “brutal” and “without prior warning.”

Based
on its findings, the HRCM recommended that the Maldives Police Service
(MPS) and Police Integrity Commission (PIC) should investigate the
“disproportionate” use of force – in violation of police regulations
authorising use of less-lethal weapons – and initiate legal action
against the responsible officers.

On February 8, thousands of MDP supporters took to the streets after Nasheed declared that his resignation the previous day was “under duress” in a “coup d’etat” instigated by mutinying SO police officers working with the then-opposition and abetted by rogue elements of the military.

The HRCM noted that 32
people filed complaints with the commission concerning varying degrees
of injuries sustained in the crackdown and 20 people submitted medical
documents of their treatment for injuries.

Among the
injuries caused by the police baton charge, the HRCM report noted that
several people were bruised and battered, one person fractured a bone in
his leg, one person was left with a broken arm and six people sustained
head wounds.

Two fingers on the left hand of one demonstrator
were crushed, the report noted, and the victim had to undergo treatment
at the operating theatre.

The PIC meanwhile revealed in December
2012 that it “recorded 24 individual cases of police brutality related
to 7th and 8th February” and completed investigation into 12 cases.

Six cases were sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) for criminal prosecution.

“In
one more case, though police brutality was proven, there was
insufficient evidence to identify the responsible policemen.
Investigations of the remaining 12 cases is ongoing, but are expected to
be completed soon,” the commission said in a status update.

In February 2013, PIC Chair Dr Abdulla Waheed told
parliament’s Government Oversight Committee that it was investigating
29 police officers accused of using excessive force against MDP
demonstrators.

The PIC chairperson could not confirm whether the
commission’s recommendation to dismiss six officers of the 29 under
investigation was acted upon.

He added that five cases were
pending despite video evidence of police brutality as the officers could
not be identified and 11 additional cases remained stalled over lack of
sufficient evidence.

Former PIC Chair Shahinda Ismail had
revealed that officers the commission had recommended for suspension had
instead been given promotions. Shahinda resigned in October 2012 citing “major difference of opinion” with other members.

“What
I’ve seen in the actions of institutions is that they have been giving a
lot of space for the police to act with impunity,” she said at the
time.

February 8 crackdown

While
police baton charged the front of the protest march on February 8,
Minivan News observed SO officers charging the crowd from a narrow alley
leading to the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) building.

The SO officers used obscene language, pointed to and chased after individual MDP activists and severely beat unarmed civilians.

Parts of the attack from the rear were filmed by Al Jazeera, which reported
on February 8 that “police and military charged, beating demonstrators
as they ran – women, the elderly, dozens left nursing their wounds.”

Former President Nasheed was reported among the injured, and received head injuries during the clashes. He was briefly taken under police custody before being released back into the crowd.

Minivan News also observed several youth with head injuries queuing up for x-rays in the waiting area outside the reception area at the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).

One
young woman who had gone to IGMH with her sister was being treated for a
head wound. A gauze wrapped around her head was spotted with blood, and
she claimed the wound was still bleeding as she went in for an X-ray.

“The
police were just standing there and suddenly we were being beaten with
batons and pepper spray was thrown in our face. They threw us to the
ground and kept beating us,” she said.

The BBC meanwhile reported “a baton charge by police on crowds gathered outside one of the main hospitals.”

“People
scattered as officers sprinted towards them silhouetted against the
lights of passing traffic,” the BBC’s Andrew North reported from Male’.

“Inside
the hospital, dozens of Mr Nasheed’s supporters are still being treated
for injuries, following earlier scuffles in the main square. Among them
is Reeko Moosa Maniku, chairman of Mr Nasheed’s Maldives Democratic
Party – who was with the former president when the clashes broke
out. With a large head bandage and his shirt bloodied, he regained
consciousness as we arrived. The police said they would kill me, he told
us, as they beat me. Another MP was still unconscious in another ward.”